Queen City Nerve - July 13, 2022

VOLUME 4, ISSUE 17; JULY 13 - JULY 26, 2022; WWW.QCNERVE.COM

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TABLE OF CONTENTS NEWS & OPINION

4 Fever Pitch by Sam Spencer Analyzing the first half of Charlotte FC’s inaugural season

ARTS & CULTURE

6 Ride the Wave by Autumn Rainwater Kevin ‘Surf’ Mitchell unveils The Couch Surfing Expedition 8 Lifeline: Ten Cool Things To Do in Two Weeks

CHARLOTTE MUSIC ISSUE

Long-awaited projects on the way from...

10 Faye by Ryan Pitkin 11 Sometime in February by Pat Moran 12 Quentin Talley and the Soul Providers by Ryan Pitkin 13 MercuryDimes by Pat Moran 15 Soundwave

LIFESTYLE

18 Puzzles 20 The Seeker by Katie Grant 21 Horoscope 22 Savage Love

Thanks to our contributors: Grant Baldwin, Katie Grant, Sam Spencer, Autumn Rainwater, Jonathan Cooper, Taylor Banner, Yair Guevara, Steven Key, Kosmorama, Joe Poletta, Alex Hodor Lee, Anders Johanson, Alfred Nitsch and Dan Savage.

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No Plastic Bags

FOOD & DRINK

16 Whiz Kids by Karie Simmons How Cheat’s Cheesesteaks went from pop-up to permanent home

NEWS & OPINION FEATURE

The match could have gone either way until Galaxy’s Efraín Álvarez came off the bench and broke the deadlock in the 77th minute. The goal was perfect — Álvarez hit the upper ninety from outside the box, denying goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina a save — so Charlotte fans couldn’t feel too bad about the 0-1 loss.

The supporters section was rowdy and the team received a standing ovation at the end, but the Analyzing the first half of Charlotte FC’s inaugural season most important moment for the club’s culture was

BY SAM SPENCER when a microphone went out during the national anthem and the crowd took over, a tradition that has continued at Bank of America Stadium throughout the season.

Charlotte Football Club is at a fork in the road.

In 2021, as Charlotte FC built its bench, the club In that moment, it was clear that soccer was The team has played 20 matches of their inaugural lent players to minor league Charlotte Independence here to stay. campaign and have 14 to go before the MLS Cup to prepare for 2022, including captain Christian Playoffs. As of press time, Charlotte FC sits in sixth Fuchs, box-to-box midfielder Brandt Bronico, and place in the Eastern Conference, with 26 points and defender Adam Armour. an 8-10-2 record. If they finish in seventh place or In addition to signing players, the community above, they make the playoffs. and the club prepared for soccer to be a success in The season could go in any direction from Charlotte. New supporters groups like Mint City this point. The last two home matches are great Collective, Blue Furia, and Southbound and Crown examples; in their 0-1 loss to Austin, Charlotte built community and a Supporters Council, a tifo played well but their offense never clicked, and committee, and the infrastructure for Charlotte’s Austin got lucky. More matches like that, and soccer fandom.

Charlotte misses the playoffs with a respectable but On the club side, Miguel Ángel Ramírez was unimpressive first season. appointed head coach on July 7 and experienced Then there’s the explosive 4-1 win against assistant coach Christian Lattanzio came aboard Nashville on June 9. If Charlotte FC keeps playing the next week. Through the rest of 2021, Charlotte like they did that Saturday night, then they’ll be the FC added players to the roster, including three MLS first major league team in Charlotte history to make veterans: forward McKinze Gaines, defender Anton the playoffs in their first year.

Walkes, and defender Joseph Mora.

Then 2022 brought the MLS SuperDraft. With their first pick, Charlotte chose midfielder Ben A foundation for fandom Charlotte FC’s first season was supposed to take Bender, who would become one of the squad’s most place in 2021, but COVID-19 got in the way. However, popular players. After a long search for a designated even before Panthers owner David Tepper paid MLS player, Charlotte signed Polish striker Karol Świderski a record $325-million franchise fee, professional just a month before the season started.

However, by mid-February Ramírez still didn’t soccer was an inevitability for Charlotte. think he had put all the pieces together. In response The foundation for a fan base was already here; hundreds of Charlotteans belong to supporters clubs to a media question about making the playoffs, he for international teams like Liverpool, Real Madrid, admitted his squad wasn’t ready yet and that he and Bayern. Many Charlotte millennials, myself was still building the roster. He should have stopped included, spent more time playing youth soccer there, but he added, “Right now, we’re screwed.”

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FEVER PITCH

than any other sport growing up. Twenty percent of Charlotteans were born in a country other than the United States, in most of which football — and not American football — is the most popular sport.

Marcus Smith, son of late Charlotte billionaire and NASCAR titan Bruton Smith, already tried to bring MLS to Charlotte. While that attempt failed, it brought together what would become the first Charlotte FC supporters group, the Queen’s Firm.

After the first home fixture, the young club continued to celebrate “firsts” — Adam Armour scored the team’s first-ever goal against Atlanta before being sidelined for the season with a knee injury. At home against New England Revolution, Charlotte earned its first win, Świderski got his first brace (two goals in a match), and Ben Bender kicked his first corner flag after a goal.

The next week, Kahlina would earn his first clean sheet and Świderski would pick up a second brace in a dominant 2-0 win over Cincinnati. Two weeks later, Charlotte would best Atlanta 1-0 at home as Jordy Alcivar scored the team’s first olimpico (a direct goal from a corner kick), in what is still my choice for Charlotte’s goal of the year.

The mood on Mint Street after the Atlanta

Charlotte FC finally takes the pitch

Technically, Charlotte FC lost their first MLS match to DC United 3-0, but the match that set the tone and expectations for the season was the first home fixture against LA Galaxy. An MLS recod 74,479 fans witnessed the match, and Lattanzio would later tell me that crowd and its energy was CHARLOTTE FC FORWARD DANIEL RÍOS. one of his favorite moments from the season.

PHOTO BY TAYLOR BANNER/CHARLOTTE FC

NEWS & OPINION FEATURE match was optimistic. The club was exceeding expectations and looked to have a superstar in Świderski, who was easily leading the team in goals.

Fans and supporters were behind Ramírez. The team continued to be winless on the road but got their first draw in Colorado. By the end of April, Charlotte was 0-5-1 in MLS matches away from the Bank, as opposed to their 3-1-0 record at home. Going into May, the team had 10 points in 10 games and was 10th in the Eastern Conference, two points out of the playoffs. Things looked ... above expectations.

May changes everything

while setting reasonable expectations. For example, he recommended patience after a winless streak in June: “I have not been in this position as head coach for long so we are still getting to know certain principles of play [that are] a little bit different to what the boys have been used to, so that may take a little bit of time.”

Players have also made it clear they hold his practices, tactics, and strategy in higher esteem than those of Ramírez. As head coach, his record is 3-2-1 as of press time.

Finally, winger Andre Shinyashiki has emerged as the strongest leader in Charlotte’s offensive arsenal. With five goals as of this writing, he’s tied with Świderski for the most goals by a Charlotte player. When he comes off the bench he’s a relentless attacker, and more than any other forward on the team he understands (fictional) coach Ted Lasso’s advice to “be a goldfish” and not fixate on a missed shot or a failed play. Świderski agreed with that assessment (albeit using different words), calling it Leaders emerge On June 7, Charlotte FC captain Christian Fuchs Andre’s greatest strength. was given the green light to explain the firing of Ramírez. In simple and believable terms, Fuchs Be a goldfish explained how Ramírez lost the confidence of the At pre-match day and post-match press players with his comments, his attitude and his conferences, a common refrain from Lattanzio and actions.

Fuchs specifically didn’t like how Ramírez avoided the locker room after losses and ran practices that didn’t challenge the team physically.

While members of the team have often talked about the former Premier League champion’s leadership on the pitch, his press conference did a lot to rescue the credibility of the club and demonstrated his skill as a spokesperson.

When Fuchs has missed games due to injury or illness, defender Guzmán Corujo fills in as captain.

Coach Lattanzio has referred to him as a “talisman,” and on the field his aggressive style of play has disrupted countless defensive opportunities for other teams. He pairs well with fan-favorite goalkeeper Kahlina, who has five clean sheets for Charlotte thus far this year.

Midfielder Brandt Bronico has also emerged as a key leader. When George Marks was called to substitute for Kahlina in goal due to COVID-19 protocols that affected 10 players, he pointed to Bronico and Fuchs as the leaders who helped him as he started his first match in the MLS. Quinn McNeill, called up from the Independence, also pointed to Bronico’s leadership.

Coach Lattanzio is another key presence; he clearly connects with the team and seems to avoid his predecessor’s bad habits. He remains optimistic

his players has been that the team takes one match at a time. That’s a good way to live as Charlotte enters its final 14 fixtures with ample time to make the playoffs.

A good example of that philosophy in practice came during Charlotte’s match in Houston. It was the club’s third match in nine days and they had lost the previous two, the starting lineup was impacted

by COVID-19 as well as the intense schedule, and Charlotte had lost all nine of their away matches to that point.

In Houston, Charlotte’s offense came together for the first time since Lattanzio’s first match as head coach, and by the 28th minute they had forced an own goal. Shinyashiki came off the bench in the second half and scored within three minutes, putting the match out of reach.

The club has shown that it can win at home and on the road. When the team is good, they’re really good — and fun to watch.

Against Nashville, the team’s most recent match as we go to press, Charlotte played like a new team and Świderski played like a new man, scoring his first goal in almost four months. The win seemed effortless.

Be a goldfish, Charlotte FC. INFO@QCNERVE.COM

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Shortly after 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 31, Charlotte FC’s communications department sent out an email with a subject line few were expecting: “Charlotte FC Announces Miguel Ángel Ramírez Will Not Continue As Head Coach.”

The front office had informed Ramírez he was fired that morning, while also announcing that Christian Lattanzio would serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the 2022 season. Most of the coaching staff would leave with him, and within a month, midfielder (and Ramírez ally) Alan Franco would leave as well.

Ramírez had a reputation for making public comments that didn’t make the front office happy and may have been younger and more inexperienced than the club wanted, but the team was doing well for an expansion team. May had been disappointing for the team in some respects; their winning streak at home was broken by CF Montréal, and Charlotte was eliminated from Open Cup play by the New York Red Bulls.

However, while Charlotte FC sporting director Zoran Krneta was tight-lipped at an emergency press conference, the team made it clear the reason for the dismissal wasn’t performance on the pitch.

Additionally, Ramírez had started the month by making one of his most important contributions to the squad: bringing on forward Andre Shinyashiki from the Colorado Rapids. Shinyashiki quickly produced two goals in four appearances. The production was especially important given a surprising drought from Świderski, who hadn’t scored since his second brace on March 26.

Due to the club’s lack of transparency, the initial reaction to Ramírez’s firing was surprise, confusion and condemnation from fans. One media outlet had a source that claimed a designated player, likely Świderski, refused to play unless Ramírez was

fired; this report was denied both by the club and individual Charlotte FC players.

Others, myself included, speculated the firing was another erratic decision from a billionaire who was gaining a reputation in Charlotte for erratic decisions. David Tepper had shuffled around the front offices of his teams and their parent company a couple times, and at the time he was engaged in a fight with Rock Hill, South Carolina, over a multimillion-dollar Carolina Panthers HQ project.

Many fans thought Tepper had fired the wrong coach, a reference to the performance of Panthers coach Matt Rhule.

The one silver lining for Charlotte was that the leadership change was made during the international break, so Lattanzio would have two weeks to get the locker room in order. During the break, Charlotte fans and followers were left to wonder what was going on.

ARTS FEATURE

RIDE THE WAVE Kevin ‘Surf ’ Mitchell unveils The Couch Surfing Expedition, eight years in the making

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BY AUTUMN RAINWATER

I met up with Kevin “Surf” Mitchell at SouthPark Church the day after he held the opening reception there for his new exhibit, The Couch Surfing Expedition. Known for his photographic work highlighting local musicians and artists, Surf took The Couch Surfing Expedition cross-country, setting up photo shoots — with dozens of local creatives as collaborators — depicting his subject in front of some of America’s most iconic settings.

I met Surf in 2016 when he was doing product shots for my brother Pat, who owns Armada Skate Shop. We quickly found that we travel in many of the same circles. What I didn’t know is that Surf had already been working on The Couch Surfing Expedition. Having first launched the effort in 2014, the project has evolved in many ways since then.

The premise of the Couch Surfing Expedition as it exists in its most current form is, typically, 10-15 creative collaborators travel to a destination to set up for a photo that depicts a person, Surf’s wife Kaylin Little, sleeping in onesie pajamas on a loveseat-sized couch. Oftentimes the shoot, which may be in the midle of a busy street or other difficult location, would need to be set up, carried out and broken down in a matter of seconds.

Although the trips were centered around getting the shot, they were also designed as a tool of reflection for the everyday creative.

Surf speaks through people that are in different walks of life and on different journeys, including people that have never been outside of the state and are sharing their first experience through Couch Surfing.

I know Surf to be the busiest of busy bodies, so when he offered to accommodate my request for an interview during his opening reception on July 1, I encouraged him to focus on being present for the party and I would stop by the next day.

Opening night occupied two floors in SouthPark Church: the second floor for the exhibition and the fourth floor for performances, light refreshments and a rooftop view. The ambiance was set with performances by Makeda Iroquois and Nia Zhane,

with none other than local hip-hop legend and longtime Surf collaborator Elevator Jay taking over DJ duties.

As one of the many creatives that has traveled with Surf on his Couch Surfing tour, or expedition, as he calls it, Jay gave Surf a warm introduction to the stage to speak on his journey thus far. Not one to hog the spotlight, Surf invited everyone that was a part of the Couch Surfing tour on stage to share stories, testimonies and a few laughs.

Elevator Jay told a story about the most recent Couch Surfing trip to Salvation Mountain, a 28-yearold man-made mountain in the California desert that’s been called a “fantasy world art installation” covered in latex paint. Jay talked about driving through Slab City at night, saying it “looks like somewhere you can die.”

Kenion Sherill, also known as Charlotte rapper Cuzo Key, grabbed the mic and said, “Y’all wanna talk about Vegas?” and everyone on stage shared a different expression — mostly laughter — which made me want to be on the inside of all the inside jokes.

After a few more hilarious stories from some of Charlotte’s notable creatives like Carey J. King and Mariah “Peculiar Hippie” Scott, Surf thanked all the past and present couch surfers with gratitude: “We’ll be able to look back on this for the rest of our lives and that’s the most important thing.”

Upon my return to SouthPark Church on the following day, I was greeted at the door by Sam Nameus, a Charlotte curator and one of Surf’s close friends. We chatted up the elevator to the second floor where Surf was.

Before we started, Surf pulled out an old picture of me at a Couch Surfing photo shoot installation in 2016, which he held during an event at Studio 1212.

As it turns out, I have been Couch Surfing before! (Or at least in the room.)

We spoke about his goals for The Couch Surfing Expedition, how it’s evolved, and what it will look like in the future.

A PIECE FROM THE COUCH SURFING EXHIBIT.

Queen City Nerve: I honestly had no idea that Couch Surfing started in 2014. What initially sparked the idea?

Kevin “Surf” Mitchell: It really represents the risk that artists take and the struggles that they go through to get to wherever they want to go. Every great success story starts with a couch. The couch is the representation of the start of the journey.

So, it’s like an ode to the starving artist?

Yes, definitely.

PHOTO BY KEVIN ‘SURF ’ MITCHELL

big into skateboarding at one point.

Man, you couldn’t tell me I wasn’t tryna go pro! (laughs) My early teenage years? Boy! I was off the chain, my mom was probably at her wit’s end!

You brought your mom up last night when you talked about her buying you your first camera.

Well actually, my very first camera was a little Kodak point-and-shoot. My friend sold it to me for $15 and I never gave him the money. (laughs) But the homies started gassing me, telling me that I had a natural eye and it just put a fire in me. My pictures weren’t turning out like the photographs that I would see and think were dope, so I started doing research on how to do things and it just went from there. I had a bug then.

And how is it similar or different from the original idea or concept eight years later?

I would imagine it’s gone through several changes.

Well, at first, it wasn’t as refined. Looking back, I think I didn’t really know how to get the message across because I was young and I just wanted to do Marc Pendergrass, local photographer and something. Sometimes you don’t know what you’re photography instructor, mentored Surf and helped doing until you’re in the middle of it. guide what was the beginning of Surf’s photography career.

Why SouthPark Church as opposed to your typical exhibit space?

Marc taught me business and everything I know.

So, I have over 40 images for Couch Surfing Because of that, I developed a backbone and I had and I wanted to be intentional about space and to unlearn everything I learned growing up because the layout. I love the exclusivity of the space. I was sometimes, in Black households, you adopt that also drawn to it because of the [fourth-floor] stage, broken mentality. because Couch Surfing creatives weren’t just visual artists, they were musical artists as well. So I wanted I can relate to growing up looking at the to maintain that family element with both. world a certain way and then getting older and gaining perspective, then shaping your What were you doing before you were a own world and identity because of it. photographer? I seem to remember you were Yeah, and even after working for UMG [Universal

ARTS FEATURE Music Group], I appreciated those experiences and people from my past because it definitely shaped me.

The original couch from older Couch Surfing photos was the couch in the studio [at UMG]. That was my couch in the studio and they gave it to me because they were moving and bought all new couches. I slept on it so much, six or seven days straight at the studio, no sunlight, just grinding it out. I remember the first Couch Surfing photo I posted, I saw a tweet from UMG that said, “That couch looks real familiar.”

What would you say was your most eyeopening Couch Surfing trip to date?

Definitely Salvation Mountain. It was the first time I realized what I was actually doing. I didn’t have a couch, I didn’t even know where we were gonna get one.

were rough. He was even shot in August 2020, the of the police presence. I was thinking “I’m about day after his first son Kai was born, in the height of the to look like the biggest asshole ever,” but people pandemic. thought it was performance art so we just went with it. I felt like if I didn’t scream and yell, I was gonna go That wasn’t scary for you or like a turning to jail. (laughs) The original images had cops lined point moment? I would’ve been like “What up just watching and waiting but I actually think the hell, life? Universe?” they enjoyed it.

No, not at all. I mean, I could see why people would think that. If anything it was very What other places would you like to visit inconvenient (laughs), but I never had a thought that you haven’t been? like it was over or that I was gonna quit.

I definitely want to go international. Japan, Moscow … I want to photograph landscapes now.

How long before you started working Nature. again?

As soon as I could limp good! (laughs) It’s So you’re done with the U.S.? funny because I actually put photography to the I still have a couple of [U.S.] places in mind, like side. When Kay was pregnant with Kai, I wanted to I wanna go to Seattle but mainly because I wanna provide stability for us. I even told [photographer] go fishing. And the market where they throw fish?

Marc Prosper the year before at Dreamville Fest that this was my last year doing photography. It’s funny how things work out. God has my sense of humor for sure.

Yeah, I wanna do that. I’ll use Couch Surfing as my excuse. (laughs) Where do you see Couch Surfing going?

Like how far do you want to take it?

Hmmm, maybe turning it into an art residency and/or a platform that provides grants for the starving artist — big enough where I’m not there but creatives can travel and partner with art galleries.

I see it being a lot of things. Bigger than me.

You can check out The Courch Surfing Expedition showing at The Light Factory in Plaza Midwood through Aug. 6. The venue will host a finale showcase and Q&A session on Aug. 6 from 6-8 p.m.

INFO@QCNERVE.COM

Surf saw a sign that said “God Never Fails,” which he took as his prompt to not give up. Fellow photographer Yep, because it brought you right back to Carey King pointed out a Goodwill nearby that ended up your purpose. having the very couch he wanted.

Exactly.

I think that’s a perfect story to capture the Couch Surfing experience, literally and figuratively, because in a struggling artist’s journey, sometimes there isn’t a couch, or sometimes the couch is different, like a car.

Things happen the way they’re supposed to even if it’s hard to see.

Man, everything that’s happening has already happened. You just have to follow your intention and listen to your gut.

So, to shift gears back to the opening reception, you had visitors download the Artivive app on their phones to experience an interactive aspect to the series. I loved it, but what made you take that approach?

I worked on a documentary in 2018 called RCLM 37 that the Levine Museum and Johnson C. Smith [University] partnered on and wanted me to direct. It was a documentary on the west-side corridor, which is Beatties Ford [Road], a historical reclamation film to highlight what Beatties Ford is and artists from that side of town were a part of it.

One of those artists was Marcus Kiser. He introduced me to augmented reality and I bookmarked that as something I wanted to do one day. People thought that these were photoshopped photos so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to use it.

How so?

Surf spoke candidly about his hardships during the I had to act like I was Spielberg or somebody to past eight years, sharing stories about him and his wife get the shot. (laughs) It was a defense thing because Kaylin counting up change to split meals when times

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We first connected through your work with my brother over at Armada, who’s known for his sayings and motivational expressions.

Did he drop any on you?

I remember one time I went to the shop and Pat was listening to The Alchemist on audiobook. (laughs) You know how somebody would pull up to an event to flex, and they play their favorite part in People thought it was photoshopped? a song loud when they pull up? It’s like Pat knew I Really? I guess I could see that ... What was was coming to the shop, and had it playing a certain the trickiest shot? Which city? part that caught me ... basically it was, “No matter NYC and [Washington] D.C. Wall Street was where you go in life, the universe will conspire with tough. you if you let it.”

SAT

ONGOING

‘MRS. HARRIS GOES TO PARIS’

We seem to be in the throes of a cinematic 1950s nostalgia craze with Agatha Christie-style whodunnit sendup See How They Run slated for a late September release, and Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, set in the same decade in high couture-obsessed Paris. The real draw to Mrs. Harris, however, is lead actress Lesley Manville, who nearly stole Phantom Thread from star Daniel Day Lewis as his controlling, vaguely incestuous sibling. Here, Manville is a widowed and dowdy British war widow who sets her sights on acquiring a Christian Dior designer gown.

More: $11.50; days and times vary; Independent Picture House, 4237 Raleigh St.; independentpicturehouse.org ZETA Promotional photo

7/16

DIEDRICK BRACKENS: ARK OF BULRUSHES OPENING RECEPTION

Inspired by European tapestry, West African strip weaving, and quilting traditions from the American South, weaver and artist Diedrick Brackens makes large-scale, hand-dyed cotton textiles with faceless Black figures at the center. Brackens’ woven tapestries explore queer African American identity as well as unsung narratives of Black American history. Often depicting moments of male tenderness, Brackens draws from literature, poetry and folklore as sources. His process begins with the hand-dying of cotton, a material he deliberately uses in acknowledgement of its brutal history. The opening celebration includes a discussion with Brackens.

More: Free; July 16, 11 a.m.; Mint Museum Randolph, 2730 Randolph Rd.; mintmuseum.org

DIEDRICK BRACKENS Photo by Alex Hodor Lee

7/20

7/16

‘THE BIG LEBOWSKI’ Photo by Joe Poletta

‘MRS. HARRIS GOES TO PARIS’ Still from film

ONGOING

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DIKEMBE, ZETA, PETROV

7/20

Indie-rock powerhouse Petrov curates an experimental bill for their ongoing eclectic Snug Harbor residency. Venezuelan-born, Charlotte-based punk band Zeta filters Latin American music through an indie-rock filter that entwines the guttural postpunk of Joy Division with whiplash metallic clangor and explosive bursts of salsa. Dikembe makes its portentous tempos and downcast lyrics compelling, while their faux-nostalgia video for “All Got Sick” boasts a shoddy deep-fake aesthetic that quotes Wayne’s World, Christopher Walken’s dance to Fat Boy Slim’s “Weapon of Choice” and more. It sounds silly, but it’s deeply disturbing.

More: $13; July 20, 10 p.m.; Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St.; snugrock.com

THUR

7/21

CROSSROADS CINEMA: ‘THE BIG LEBOWSKI’

“This is a very complicated case ... You know, a lotta ins, a lotta outs, a lotta what-have-yous … a lotta strands to keep in my head, man.” And so The Dude (Jeff Bridges) attempts to unravel the mystery at the heart of The Big Lebowski. If Miller’s Crossing, still the Coen brothers’ masterpiece, is a somber imagining of Dashiell Hammett’s The Glass Key, their seventh film is a farcical take on Raymond Chandler’s The High Window. Perhaps the biggest mystery is why this classic comedy garnered mixed reviews when it was released.

More: Free; July 21, 8 p.m.; Camp North End, Ford Building, 1774 Statesville Ave.; camp.nc

THUR

7/21

BILLIE ZANGEWA: THREAD FOR A WEB BEGUN

The guided 30-minute tour at the Gantt Center features its newest exhibition, Billie Zangewa: Thread for a Web Begun. The Malawi-born, Johannesburg-based artist hand sews silk fabrics to create collage tapestries that explore themes of society, identity and feminism. The multilayered tapestries convey a sense of fragility, both in the silk material and in the intimate scenes she depicts.

“I tell my personal story, how it’s happening on the home front, and show the intimate life of a woman, which usually we’re not encouraged to do,” Zamgewa says.

More: Free; July 21, noon; Harvey B. Gantt Center, 551 S. Tryon St.; ganttcenter.org

SAT

MICKEY DOLENZ AT FABFEST DAYTIME

7/21

7/23

It’s a little weird that the last living Monkee, Mickey Dolenz, is part of Charlotte’s two-day long Beatles celebration FabFest, because back in the heyday of The Monkees’ 1966-68 sitcom, detractors of vocalist and drummer Dolenz and his bandmates slammed the inauthenticity of the group by dubbing them the Prefab Four. No matter, boomers will vouch for The Monkees’ classic ’60s singles and tell you their trippy 1968 movie Head is worth seeing, especially the band hiding out in the pompadour of giant 1940s movie star Victor Mature.

More: Free; July 23, 4 p.m.; The Parr Center at CPCC, 1201 Elizabeth Ave.; fabfestcharlotte.org

SUN 7/24 COHEED AND CAMBRIA

COHEED AND CAMBRIA Photo by HeavyMezza89/Creative Commons

Nia and Nostrand have escaped with their son Vaxis from the prison planet Dark Sentencer, but they are still fleeing the evil Five Houses of the Star Supremacy empire. If that sentence has you scratching your head, don’t sweat it, it’s merely the convoluted plotline of Coheed and Cambria’s 10th album, Vaxis – Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind.

Band songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Claudio Sanchez has penned and illustrated a shit-ton of comics illuminating C & C’s albums-long sci-fi saga set to inventive progressive metal and direct alternative rock.

More: $32.50 and up; July 24, 6:30 p.m.; CMCU Amphitheatre, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd.; livenation.com

SUN 7/24 ROB ZOMBIE, MUDVAYNE

It’s hard to believe now, but at one time White Zombie was an experimental New York City noise band on par with The Swans, Sonic Youth and Pussy Galore. Of course, this was NYC in the mid-1980s, when grindhouses and discarded hypodermic needles were plentiful in Times Square and an Italian horror movie fan named Rob Straker had yet to become a cartoon version of himself as Rob Zombie. That said, cartoon Zombie’s 2021 album The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy is fun in a Groovy Ghoulies way, but it can’t shake the feel of Hot Topic.

More: $29.50 and up; July 24, 6 p.m.; PNC Music Pavilion, 707 Pavilion Blvd.; livenation.com ROB ZOMBIE Photo by Alfred Nitsch

7/24

7/24

MON-FRI TUE-SUN 7/25 - 7/29 7/26 - 7/31

ENVISION ME FILMMAKING CAMP

ENVISION ME Courtesy of Gantt Center

7/25-7/29

‘TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD’

When Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) adapted Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork in 2018, he said he didn’t want to create a cover band version of the novel’s greatest scenes. Instead, Sorkin’s Mockingbird shifts the story’s point of view from heroic Atticus Finch’s naïve daughter Scout to idealistic Atticus himself, showing that his biggest failing is that he thinks there’s some good in everyone. Scrutiny of the current Republican Party’s headlong rush to deprive Americans of their rights — voting is in their crosshairs this fall — shows that this is simply not true.

More: $25 and up; July 26 - 31; Belk Theater, 130 N Tryon St.; blumenthalarts.org

‘TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD’ Film still

7/26-7/31

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Led by teaching artist Ben Premeaux, EnVision Me is a youth-based arts program that provides students of color with high level, inspiring arts instruction so they can envision a brighter, creative future.

Students learn to tell their stories through film by learning six documentary modes ranging from poetic mode, which eschews linear continuity in favor of mood; to performative mode, which focuses on the filmmaker’s involvement with their subject.

The students’ efforts culminate with a screening of their films on the evening of Friday, July 29.

More: $250; July 25-29, 9 a.m.; Harvey B. Gantt Center, 551 S. Tryon St.; ganttcenter.org

WORTH THE WAIT Faye’s

debut album treats its speed bumps as jumps PHOTO by Kosmorama

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BY RYAN PITKIN

When Queen City Nerve last touched base with Faye for our 2019 Music Issue, the indie-rock trio was busy in the studio recording their debut LP. With plans to put the album out through Tiny Engines, a well-established indie record label based in the Carolinas, Faye’s future looked set in stone.

But that’s the problem with the future: Nothing is guaranteed.

In the fall of that year, Tiny Engines imploded, collapsing under the weight of allegations that management was withholding payments. New York-based artist Adult Mom filed a breach-ofcontract suit against the label, which subsequently shut down.

“Tiny Engines kind of, like, fell apart, and so we were like, ‘What are we doing? What’s going on?’” recalls bassist Sarah Blumenthal, who fronts the band alongside guitarist Susan Plante.

With their drummer Thomas Berkau, the two kept at it, continuing to record their first full-length album even if they didn’t know who would put it out. They finished up in late January 2020, then shit hit the fan again.

COVID-19 clamped down on the music scene and Faye was left holding their precious project, one they took a lot of pride in but couldn’t find an outlet for.

“Everyone was just so damaged — bands,

labels, venues, all of it — that everyone was just like, ‘We’re strapped, we can’t take on new projects,’” Blumenthal says.

But alas, Blumenthal had one option that hardly any bands have in their back pocket: She co-owns a label, Self Aware Records, with her husband, fellow Charlotte musician Joshua Robbins.

It was a choice she wanted to stay away from, but one that eventually became the only option.

“It’s hard to champion yourself in that capacity,” Blumenthal said of playing a double role as label head and artist. “It’s like, as the person in the band, I’m already doing everything I can to push that forward, and it’s helpful to have another outside force also pushing it forward.

“But ultimately, when it comes down to it, yeah, we can put out our own record. I guess that’s a privileged position,” she continues. “We know how to do it. It’s not like this massive weight to bear to do that. And so at the end of it, I feel good about it. I like my label.”

There’s plenty to feel good about. You’re Better, scheduled to drop on Aug. 12, features 11 tracks of the hardest and most polished rock Faye has released since coming together in 2016.

To be clear, there’s only the band’s self-titled EP from its first year in existence to compare it to, but the growth from that point to now is impressive regardless.

Recorded with renowned producer Justin Pizzoferrato, You’re Better showcases a cleaned up sound that trades in distorted dreamscapes for crisp, in-your-face alt rock — more Veruca Salt than Rilo Kiley.

“The EP was honestly kind of tentative, like we weren’t sure who we were as a band or if we knew what we were doing or if we were allowed to do it,” Blumenthal explains. “So there’s a lot more steadier footing on the LP — definitely more confidence, definitely more intention.”

“These are songs that we really crafted,” Plante adds, putting it as promptly as possible.

The two regularly finish each other’s sentences, which is why it makes sense that they also share songwriting duties. While one can usually tell who wrote the song by who sings it, other patterns emerge, as well.

“There is definitely a difference in style,”Blumenthal says, speaking directly to Plante during our interview.

“You use a lot more cryptic language and symbolism in there and I’m just like, ‘Pfffft, here it is.’”

Blumenthal does feel especially proud when she can sneak some figurative language into her lyrics here and there, as she does in the album’s first single, “No Vibes.”

“We’ve been on mountaintops, we crossed the ocean once…” Blumenthal sings, referencing

a specific trip but also the ups and downs of relationships — “immense high points and vast distances of, like, nothing,” as she explains it.

Many of Plante’s songs address mental health in one way or another, as in the album’s second track, “Teeth,” which expresses an internal struggle with one’s ego, or “Swing State,” a minute-long panic attack of a song that is, in fact, meant to depict a panic attack. “Dream Punches” is about stress dreams.

“Are you noticing a pattern here?” Plante asks, laughing as we run down the tracklist.

There’s one source of stress, at least, that the band can put behind them now. After having to wait another year once they decided to go through Self Aware thanks to issues with supply lines, labor, and the like, the long wait for You’re Better finally comes to an end in August.

But leave it to Plante to overthink things.

“There is a little bit of nerves to it because it’s been such a long time coming that it’s like, do people still care?” Plante says, laughing as she recognizes her own anxiety pushing through. “And also, what if they’re like, ‘Well, if it’s taking them this long, it’s got to be, like, perfect.’ And it’s like, no, there were a lot of factors!”

In the end, though, this debut is worth the wait.

RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM

SUDDENLY SOMETIME Tristan Auman finds his voice through guitar

BY PAT MORAN

PMORAN@QCNERVE.COM

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PHOTO by Anders Johanson

Guitarist and composer Tristan Auman has bounced around the Carolinas throughout his 23 years. He grew up in Saluda, North Carolina; has lived in Lancaster, South Carolina; and has played with Columbia-based musicians while making Charlotte his home base for the past two and a half years. His electrifying playing and inspired songwriting, however, started with Boston — not the city, the melodic 1970s hard-rock band.

“The first song that sparked my interest in guitar was ‘More Than a Feeling’ by Boston,” Auman says.

“I’d never heard anything like it.”

He was 7 years old at the time. Starting with the melodic arena rock that inspired him, Auman has mastered genres as diverse as straightforward indie/ alternative rock and knotty shapeshifting progressive metal. As his solo-project-turned-band Sometime in February, he’s forged a distinct style that can be sampled on the video for “Frayed Knot” off his debut EP Here Goes, a collection of 10 coruscating instrumentals.

The video focuses on Auman’s slipknot fretwork, where crunchy metal chords set up a siren’s call of lyrical solos. As the time-signature changing composition dovetails into staccato machine-gun picking, listeners may be reminded of fleet-fingered guitar hero Steve Vai, yet it’s the influence of another Steve — Yes axeman Steve Howe — that imbues the bucolic interlude before guest player Sebastian Stevens unleashes a fusillade of see-sawing saxophone.

In his teenaged years, Auman had moved beyond classic prog-rock inspirations to embrace a more metal-imbued version of his favorite genre from Plini Roessler-Holgate and Aaron Marshall, guitarists who had launched their own solo projects.

“It was a type of music that resonated with me.

I realized I could do that [too],” Auman says, “[but] I had to wait for the right time when I was good enough to play the type of music that I wanted.”

He passed that time playing in different bands and genres, developing his technique.

Auman calls his first band Theater of the Mind a “musical mish-mash.” Drawn from the Hendersonville/Saluda/Asheville area, the bandmembers pulled in different directions: punk rock, classic rock and metal, in addition to Auman’s more progressive path. The band released an EP before splitting, but not before then-15-year-old Auman had grasped the importance of songwriting.

“Shredding a great solo is always fun,” he

says, “but it’s the song as a whole that is the most important thing to me — and the most fun.”

Auman’s family moved to Lancaster in 2016. Three years later, Auman joined Columbia-based act Marley Erin, which morphed into the indie/alternative rock band The Unapologetic Kind. The group played Auman’s first Charlotte gig at Skylark Social Club in 2019.

At the same time, Auman was playing guitar for Columbia pop punk/emo band Aim High. He remembers being so busy that he had little time to work on his own music. That changed when the COVID pandemic struck in March 2020, right as Auman was leaving Aim High. (The Unapologetic Kind eventually went on hiatus, playing its last gig in September 2021.)

“I … had time to sit down and write some of my own music,” he says. The result was Sometime in February’s first song, “Better Late,” released as a single in May 2020. The pensive, steadily building tone poem erupts in a burst of stuttering yet melodic guitar squall before tumbling into quiescence.

“It’s pretty straightforward,” Auman says. “I feel it has a lot to say [with] a good bit of emotional impact.”

Auman feels he’s found his voice with instrumental music without vocals. “For my music, playing guitar is the most expressive way for me to say anything.”

Debut EP Here Goes followed in October 2021, produced by former TUK bandmates Robert Wilkinson and Nathan Crane, who had just opened their own recording studio called Rosewood Records in Columbia. Unlike Auman’s debut single, in which he played everything, the EP features flesh-and-blood bassists, drummers and other musicians, charting a sound that hews to the modern progressive crunch of bands like Periphery and Between the Buried and Me, augmented with techniques Auman picked up by playing indie rock such as guitar pedals and effects.

“I try not to make everything sound the same,” he says.

Auman recruited drummer Scott Barber (Trees on Mars and Pretty Women), and bassist Morgan Johnson from Aim High as permanent members of Sometime in February. The trio will play a July 22 gig at Petra’s.

Auman is currently working on material for an as-yet-untitled full-length album along with the two new band members.

“They are both probably the most technically proficient musicians I have played with,” Auman says.

That’s high praise from a young songwriter and musician who puts inspiration, technical skill and soul into intricate instrumental music that touches the heart.

“I hope [the audience] can see how much the whole thing means to me — and the other guys.”

TALLEY UP

Quentin Talley and the Soul Providers want you to ‘Fall Thru’

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BY RYAN PITKIN

PHOTO by Jonathan Cooper

Quentin Talley is one of the most active musicians in Charlotte, which is especially impressive considering he hasn’t actually lived here in three years.

The multi-hyphenated talent who built his name up in Charlotte’s poetry, theatre and music scenes over more than a decade moved to Durham in the summer of 2019 to take a job as program director at the Hayti Heritage Center.

“It’s cool because they let me be an artist and get the job done for them as curator for their programming as well,” he told me during a recent Friday afternoon phone call, not surprisingly from Charlotte, where he said he wasn’t performing but working on an another side project.

“Durham ain’t but a hop, skip and a jump,” he continued. “I’m always traveling back and forth, doing gigs here.”

Anyone who’s been to Camp North End on a Friday night and seen him performing with his Charlotte-based band the Soul Providers — or anyone who’s a regular at any number of jazzfriendly venues in the city, for that matter — can attest to that.

Quentin Talley might just fall through at any time.

The idea gives all the more relevance to Quentin Talley and the Soul Providers’ debut EP, Fall Thru, which dropped on July 1. The project consists of one extended song cut into four tracks to serve as an anthem for getting outside this summer.

The group has been fine-tuning the piece over the past two years, waiting for that time when they felt comfortable to put it out there — comfortable with the music and comfortable with the climate.

“Last year, we thought it was time and then the Omicron came back and got us,” Talley explained.

“And we still had some more mixing to do anyway.

But I’m hoping it will be somewhat of an anthem for people to call up their people that they ain’t seen in a minute, tell them to fall through and have a drink or get up at a certain spot and just kind of hang out and catch up with folks that you haven’t seen.”

The song is a plea for socialization, all in the upbeat and uplifting soulful jazz style fans have come to expect from Quentin Talley and the Soul Providers over the years.

It was back in 2006 that Quentin Talley began to build his Charlotte arts empire with the launch of OnQ Productions, a breath of fresh air in a city that at the time had no other Black-led theatre companies.

All of Talley’s plays incorporate live music, especially the popular Soulful Noel show, which got him networking with local artists. He also had a strong presence in the local spoken-word poetry scene.

It was around 2010 when Talley began performing music at the weekly spoken-word event Touch One Thursdays at the now-closed Wine Up in NoDa. From there he began hosting Soul Stage, a weekly open mic that began at Allure and eventually moved to Red’s @ 28th.

“That’s when I really started working with musicians on a regular basis,” Talley recalled.

About seven years ago, he formed Quentin Talley and the Soul Providers, switching band members over time until, about three years ago, he felt confident enough to cement the lineup. There are still rotations here and there based on scheduling conflicts for shows, but for the most part, the band today consists of Talley on vocals, Curtis Hayes on keys, Courtney Gibson on bass, Stefan Kallander on guitar, and Jesse Williams on drums.

Coming off the release of Fall Thru, the band has a busy couple of months scheduled in Charlotte.

On July 25, Talley will host Christmas in July at Grindhaus Studios in the VAPA Center to mark the halfway point until OnQ’s 10th anniversary celebration of Soulful Noel. On July 30, he will join the Soul Providers will be onstage for the second iteration of Musicology 101, in which the band performs classic hits that have been heavily sampled while DJ D.R. cuts in with the tracks that borrowed those sounds.

Then on Aug. 21, the band will perform on the Pure Intentions Coffee Stage at the inaugural QC Jam Session, a multi-genre festival chock-full of local musicians and out-of-towners.

“I think it’s going to be great for the city,” Talley said of the festival. “Folks have tried to do that stuff before but it’s usually all one genre. I like that this one is kind of all-inclusive with various genres, which really opens it up to music lovers of all kinds. I think it will do very, very well.

“I tell people all the time, North Carolina and Charlotte particularly … Charlotte in general has some of the best musicians hands down in every genre,” he added.

And that’s all the reason you need to fall through.

RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM

TURNING ON A DIME

Mercury Dimes returns from hiatus more valuable than ever

BY PAT MORAN

Dynamic yet unclassifiable female-fronted trio Mercury Dimes has gone from an invigorating, somewhat enigmatic, blast of energy to a powerful and inventive force in the Charlotte music scene — and possibly beyond.

Bursting out of the Queen City’s open mic scene in 2014, the band harnessed their acoustic punk folk to lyrics dealing with the discord and alienation of daily life. By 2016, Mercury Dimes had transmogrified into a louder and electrified art punk outfit whose questioning outlook remained undimmed. Then, in 2017, the band’s explosive trajectory was interrupted and Mercury Dimes went missing.

“I had a pretty bad drug problem at the time, and I had to go to rehab,” bassist Wesley Mauldin offers without hesitation.

“It was kind of shaky there for a minute,” drummer Nathan Curlee says. “We had to just let [the band] sit.”

“We definitely kept in touch,” says vocalist/ guitarist Laura Staples. “There was no, ‘We’re going to play as Mercury Dimes without Wesley.’”

“One day they just asked if I wanted to keep

playing, and I was like, ‘Hell yeah!’” Mauldin says.

Beginning in 2014, the band launched gradually.

Curlee met Staples, who had just moved to Charlotte to start a teaching job, at an Evening Muse open mic. Then Curlee recruited fellow Albemarle native and childhood friend Mauldin to play bass for the acoustic act, which practiced at Curlee’s father’s house. The band made it’s first indelible mark with songwriter Staples’ tune “Wool.”

“I’m not rough around the edges/I’m jagged on the inside/I’m jagged as the tree line...”

“The whole [song] is autobiographical,” Staples says.

The agitated raw-edged rant is Staples’ reaction to landing in an indifferent-seeming city, losing the community she forged at University of Virginia at Charlottesville, and feeling isolated, depressed and broke. The same attitudes and concerns carried over to the band’s self-titled EP, released in 2016, three rough recordings of tunes intended for the band’s soon-to-be-released, self-recorded album.

It wouldn’t see the light of day for five years.

Then Mercury Dimes came back stronger than ever in 2018, a development that’s only surprising if you’ve never met them. Talking on the phone with the band members, they come across as three funny and successful people in their 30s. Staples has just completed her 10th year teaching high school English at Hawthorne Academy of Health Sciences in the Belmont neighborhood, and on July 30, the 2022-Gether Festival at South End Common Market will feature Mercury Dimes’ unclassifiable music along with six other acts plus a raffle to raise money for Planned Parenthood.

Upon re-forming, Mercury Dimes decided they needed to finally release their long-delayed debut album, Broken Down Anything. The band ran into obstacles accessing their old recordings. The stories of transferring invisible files from a broken computer to be mixed by Travis Brown from Anchor Detail sound like the beats of an absurdist Samuel Beckett play, but they eventually made it work and were able to put their LP. “It’s like constipation,” Curlee says. “[The songs] needed to come out so we could mentally move on.”

“The songs we’ve been playing out live now are still about what we don’t like, but [they are] more social,” Staples says. Those songs are will be heard on Mercury Dimes’ second album, Better Never, slated for release later this year.

“Our new album is a lot about inequality, and

most of the lyrics are about that have-and-have-not dichotomy,” Staples says.

The new songs will also reflect the band’s evolving sound, which is a long way from their punkfolk roots. Staples admits that it’s hard to describe Mercury Dimes’ music, which has been compared to classic alternative bands like The Pixies and Sonic Youth — comparisons she says miss the mark.

“Art punk is a fairly safe genre for us to subscribe to,” Mauldin says.

“I’ve been putting a lot of time in practicing guitar, and putting more energy into learning about it,” says Staples, who also plays drums in queerfriendly feminist hard-rock band Hey RICHARD. Moving forward, Staples says Mercury Dimes’ upcoming tunes will benefit from a change in the band’s songwriting process. (She also says songs are already taking shape for a forthcoming third Mercury Dimes record.) In the past, Staples wrote lyrics first and music second.

“Then, I brought it to the guys, and said, ‘Here’s the song. Y’all figure out what you want to do next.’

We want to change that for this next album,” Staples says. Ideally, music will be written before the lyrics, and the writing process will be more collaborative.

“Nathan and Wesley have both been playing music a hell of a lot longer than I have, so I want to tap more into their abilities.”

PMORAN@QCNERVE.COM

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PHOTO by Yair Guevara

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WEDNESDAY, JULY 13 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Treasure Mammal w/ Sunday Boxing, Dead Senate, The Emotron (The Milestone) Petrov w/ Nordista Freeze, Carver Commodore (Snug Harbor)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Sara Jean Kelley w/ Sonia Leigh (Evening Muse)

JAZZ/BLUES

Damon Fowler (Neighborhood Theatre)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

Shindig! A 50’s & 60’s Night w/ Cory Wiigg (Tommy’s Pub)

THURSDAY, JULY 14 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Ferway w/ The Second After, Oh! You Pretty Things, Latepost (The Milestone) Shana Blake’s Musical Menagerie (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & Bar) Floral w/ Cuzco, Elaine The Singer, Catholics (Snug Harbor)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA The Chicks (PNC Music Pavilion)

JAZZ/BLUES

Shago Elizondo w/ Emanuel Wynter (Middle C Jazz)

ACOUSTIC/SINGER-SONGWRITER

Acoustic Grace (Event Masterz) Songwriters in the Round w/ Jess Klein, Abigail Dowd, Tyler Nail (Visulite Theatre)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

Cosmic Jam (Crown Station) Jive Talk (Neighborhood Theatre)

OPEN MIC

Carolina Waves Showcase & Open Mic (Evening Muse) Open Mic Night w/ Chase & Aleeia “Sug” Bolton Brown (Tommy’s Pub)

FRIDAY, JULY 15 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Broadside w/ Young Culture, First and Forever, Cherie Amour (Amos’ Southend) Nate Randall (Heist Brewey & Barrel Arts) Fear Until Fury w/ WOR, Reflect//Refine, Savage Empire (The Milestone) Jude Moses w/ SOLIS, Siege Hardee (Petra’s) Move Me Brightly (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & Bar) Image of Man w/ Private Hell, Judy and The Jerks, Feral, Foodeater, Consec (Snug Harbor)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B JAZZ/BLUES

Kik Whalum (Middle C Jazz)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

Leone and The Ascension w/ Edgewood Heavy (Evening Muse) Treehouse! w/ Sons of Paradise (Visulite Theatre)

OPEN MIC

DOAP Hip-Hop Open Mic & Concert (Crown Station)

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Steely Dan (Ovens Auditorium) Late Night Special (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & Bar) Alan Charmer w/ 2 Slices, Invader Houses (Snug Harbor)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B

Pink Navel w/ SB the Moor, Vast Ness, Phaze Gawd (The Milestone)

WEDNESDAY, JULY 20 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Ben Ricketts w/ Monika, Julian Argo, J’Lan Oliver (The Milestone) Dikembe w/ ZETA, Petrov (Snug Harbor)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Austin Giorgio w/ Jaron Strom (Evening Muse)

THURSDAY, JULY 21

JAZZ/BLUES

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

JAZZ/BLUES

Memphis Lightning (Evening Muse) Kaitlin Butts Band w/ Meg McRee (Evening Muse)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

Big Time Rush (CMCU Amphitheatre) Haunted Summer w/ Roman Candles, Kadey Ballard (Petra’s) Kill the Noise (SERJ)

FUNK/JAM BANDS

Cosmic Collective (Birdsong Brewing) Adam Knight’s Buried Alive (Phish tribute) (Heist Brewey & Barrel Arts)

ACOUSTIC/SINGER-SONGWRITER Tanner Burch (Primal Brewery)

JAZZ/BLUES

Kik Whalum (Middle C Jazz)

SUNDAY, JULY 17 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

The Silverwood Band (Comet Grill) The Body Bags w/ Night Talkers, The Felons (The Milestone)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ Hazy Sunday (Petra’s)

ACOUSTIC/SINGER-SONGWRITER Fox n’ Vead (Primal Brewery)

FUNK/JAM BANDS

Delirium Trio (Birdsong Brewing)

MONDAY, JULY 18 JAZZ/BLUES

The Conn/Davis Jazz Duo (Crown Station) The Bill Hanna Legacy Jazz Session (Petra’s)

Dynamite Brothers w/ The Mystery Plan, Moa (Snug Harbor) Java (Middle C Jazz) Tommy Castro & the Painkillers w/ Tinsley Ellis (Neighborhood Theatre)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

Cosmic Jam (Crown Station) Shindig! A 50’s & 60’s Night w/ Cory Wiigg (Tommy’s Pub)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

The Lubben Brothers (Evening Muse)

SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC

Carolina Songwriters in the round w/ Tracy Simpson (Petra’s)

FRIDAY, JULY 22 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Lenny Federal Band (Comet Grill) Flight By Nothing w/ Tedesco Knows Best (Evening Muse) Tricia Ann Band and Mallow Hill (Evening Muse) The Connells w/ JPhono1 (Neighborhood Theatre) The Angie Rikard Band (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & Bar) FabFest (Beatles tribute festival) (Knight Theater)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA Luke Bryan (PNC Music Pavilion)

JAZZ/BLUES

Jeff Kashiwa (Middle C Jazz)

EXPERIMENTAL

Mindvac w/ Maiden Mother Crone, Sometime in February (Petra’s)

FUNK/JAM BANDS

Keith Serpa (Heist Brewey & Barrel Arts)

OPEN MIC

TUESDAY, JULY 19

LATIN/WORLD/REGGAE

ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Avatar (The Underground)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

SoMo w/ Moonlander (Visulite Theatre)

EXPERIMENTAL

Telekinetic Yeti w/ White Hills, Rebreather, Bog Loaf (Snug Harbor)

John Stickley Trio (Heist Brewey & Barrel Arts)

JAZZ/BLUES

Electric Kif w/ Misnomer (Evening Muse) Christian Tamburr (Middle C Jazz) Danielle Nicole (Neighborhood Theatre)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC Bonnie x Clyde (SERJ)

FUNK/JAM BANDS

Eternally Grateful (Grateful Dead tribute) (Primal Brewery)

SUNDAY, JULY 24 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Coheed & Cambria (CMCU Amphitheatre) Rob Zombie w/ Mudvayne (PNC Music Pavilion)

HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B

Nige Hood (The Milestone)

Rasmus Leon w/ Dean Batten, Kadey Ballard (The Milestone) JAZZ/BLUES

ACOUSTIC/SINGER-SONGWRITER

Find Your Muse Open Mic feat. The Backfires (Evening Muse)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA

Jim Garrett Trio (Birdsong Brewing) Patrick Lilly (Primal Brewery)

Guilherme Arantes w/ Eduardo Mendonca (Stage DoorTheater)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ

Deep Fried Disco (Snug Harbor) Reflexions Dark Wave & New Wave Dance Party w/ DJ Velvetine (Tommy’s Pub)

SATURDAY, JULY 23 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Margolnick w/Deathcruiser (Evening Muse) The Girls w/ Not Likely, South Side Punx, Flat Out

Kerry Brooks w/ Doug Jones (Comet Grill) Lin Rountree (Middle C Jazz)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA The Abrams w/ Julie Williams

FUNK/JAM BANDS

Guava Tron (Heist Brewey & Barrel Arts)

LATIN/WORLD/REGGAE

Celtic Session w/ Alan Davis (Tommy’s Pub)

MONDAY, JULY 25 ROCK/PUNK/METAL

Sleeping with Sirens (The Fillmore) Decrepit Birth w/ Pathology, Stabbing, The Stygian Complex (The Milestone) The Doobie Brothers (PNC Music Pavilion)

JAZZ/BLUES

The Conn/Davis Jazz Duo (Crown Station) The Bill Hanna Legacy Jazz Session (Petra’s)

OPEN MIC

Find Your Muse Open Mic feat. Josh Carpenter (Evening Muse)

TUESDAY, JULY 26

SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC

Reina del Cid w/ Carson McKee (Evening Muse) Influences & Originals w/ Paul lover (Tommy’s Pub)

COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA Red Rocking Chair (Comet Grill)

POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ Lost Cargo: Tiki Social Party

VISIT QCNERVE.COM FOR THE FULL SOUNDWAVE LISTING.

Pg. 15 JULY 13 - JULY 26, 2022 - QCNERVE.COM

Tribute to Biz feat. Big Daddy Kane, KRS-One, Slick Rick, Brand Nubian, Chubb Rock (Ovens Auditorium)

SATURDAY, JULY 16

Insult (The Milestone) BuriedInRosesw/Ugli,LeavingForArizona,DeneeWeathers(Petra’s) Tedeschi Trucks Band (PNC Music Pavilion) Bodegaw/CelebrityDeathSlotMachine,SuperCity(SnugHarbor) Long Strange Deal (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & Bar) Bootleg Aces w/ Jem Crossland (Tommy’s Pub) FabFest (Beatles tribute festival) (Knight Theater)

FOOD & DRINK FEATURE

Pop-up pandemonium

WHIZ KIDS

How Cheat’s Cheesesteaks went from pop-up to permanent home

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BY KARIE SIMMONS

Something caught the corner of my eye while I was standing in the kitchen of Cheat’s Cheesesteak Parlor’s new brick-and-mortar location on Pecan Avenue talking to co-founders Ryan Hart and Greg Balch about the restaurant’s early days as a pop-up: A man was approaching the walk-up window.

This is going to be awkward, I thought. Does he know it’s not open yet? He looks excited. He’s going to be so let down! Did he drive far to come here or was he just passing by?

My mind ran through all the ways this scenario could go, then Balch leaned coolly out the window like he’d done this before.

“Hey man, I’m sorry. We’re not open yet,” he said.

“Next Wednesday. Come back and see us.”

I cringed, waiting for the hope to drain from the man’s face and a wave of disappointment to wash over, but it didn’t — at least not as much as I expected.

Instead, he perked up when Balch told him Cheat’s would start churning out cheesesteaks on Wednesday, July 13. He was just happy to hear it was opening.

Balch and Hart have been fielding a steady stream of would-be customers over the past few weeks as excitement and anticipation builds for Cheat’s, known for hosting sold-out pop-ups at local breweries and Panthers games, to open its permanent home.

Even on the street, the two told me drivers beep their horns daily and shout as they pass by the new spot, which is situated next to Villani’s Bakery and Rico’s Acai, just at the border of Elizabeth and Plaza Midwood.

“I’m like, dude, are we like The Beatles, what’s happening here? This is the craziest thing,” Hart said. “We’re just a bunch of kitchen people and bartenders.”

Hart, Balch and Hannah Smith created the concept for Cheat’s Cheesesteak Parlor while working together at The Crunkleton in Elizabeth during the pandemic — eventually bringing on fellow industry professionals Jonathan Tiernan, Tom Willoughby and chef Travis Fisher.

Though they came out of a renowned cocktail bar, these kitchen workers and bartenders have shown a

talent for cultivating a different kind of buzz.

Since the first pop-up at Birdsong Brewing in November 2020, Cheat’s has amassed more than 13,000 followers on Instagram and sold more than 10,000 cheesesteaks, including chicken, vegan and the classic “Whiz Wit” — their take on the south Philadelphia icon made with certified never-frozen Black Angus top round steak, grilled onions and gooey Cheez Whiz.

That’s all before they even fire up the flat top, slide open the walk-up window and take orders from their first customers on July 13.

“I always look at people like, ‘Cheesesteaks, huh?

Who would’ve thought?’” Hart said. “I had no idea it would ever turn into this viral sensation like it did.”

Once Hart, Balch and Smith decided on making cheesesteaks their focus, they pitched their idea to the partners at The Crunkleton, who agreed to invest in the business under the 1957 Hospitality Group umbrella.

The restaurant group is known for The Crunkleton, which has locations in Chapel Hill, Charlotte and a third opening in Raleigh; but will also run Rosemont Market and Wine Bar, opening this fall at Elizabeth on Seventh.

When they launched Cheat’s in November 2020, Smith was The Crunkleton’s general manager, Hart was bar manager and Balch was the executive chef.

The trio’s new pop-up series, which they agreed to do only on their days off, was meant to drive a little interest in the business and cultivate a taste for Cheez Whiz while they worked on a permanent location.

The team quickly saw more than a little interest, with cheesesteak pre-orders selling out days before the pop-ups, which would then regularly sell out from walk-ups. They brought on Tiernan, Fisher, Willoughby and others to help handle the demand.

Due to their schedules at The Crunkleton, Hart said the team members couldn’t host pop-ups as frequently as they wanted, but that ended up being a blessing in disguise.

“We were held back by our other job and looking

back, it’s definitely a key to our success,” Hart said.

“The temptation — you rip a massive pop-up and it’s like, ‘Let’s do this again tomorrow!’ So it kind of saved us from ourselves.”

In the days and weeks between pop-ups, demand for the cheesesteaks grew. So did Cheat’s social media following, as customers waited with baited breath for the location of the next pop-up to be revealed.

Cheat’s originally planned to open permanently on Pecan Avenue in late summer 2021, but the work to renovate the former hair salon into a cheesesteak parlor, plus all the necessary permitting, site work and variances, took longer than expected.

They kept the pop-ups going in the meantime, which only continued to grow their customer base.

The pandemonium eventually caught the attention of the Carolina Panthers and Levy Restaurants, which runs concessions at Bank of America Stadium. They booked Cheat’s to cook cheesesteaks outside the stadium for a few games.

Hart said it wasn’t until they started doing the pop-ups that they realized just how many Mid-Atlantic transplants live in Charlotte. Cheez Whiz was apparently already running through the veins of the Queen City.

“So many people thanked us and told us our cheesesteaks reminded them of home and all of a

CHEAT’S WHIZ WIT IS MADE WITH CERTIFIED BLACK ANGUS TOP ROUND STEAK, GRILLED ONIONS AND CHEEZ WHIZ.

PHOTO BY STEVEN KEY

FOOD & DRINK FEATURE sudden there was this new element that I kind of fell in love with and took very seriously, that we needed to honor the responsibility that we had to these people who grew up eating this food,” Hart said.

Creating the cheesesteak

It took Hart and Balch more than a dozen tries to get the Cheat’s cheesesteak right. Hart recalled going over to Balch’s house early on and experimenting with different cuts of meat, including A5 wagyu beef, the highest grade of the finest beef.

“That actually taught us a very important lesson because we all got super sick from eating a Cheez Whiz-and-A5 cheesesteak,” Hart said. “It was delicious, but it was just so much fat.”

They researched concepts from the North, visiting the most lauded cheesesteak spots in Philadelphia.

“You always hear ‘I came here with my father.

My grandfather used to take me here on Sundays.’

There’s a lot of family camaraderie based around these concepts and we knew that very early on we wanted Cheat’s to be family-friendly,” Hart said.

The team learned that cheesesteaks taste best when their four ingredients — vegetables, bread, cheese and meat — are as balanced as possible.

That includes fat and protein, Hart said. The right amount of fat in a cheesesteak won’t make you feel sick … you’ll just want another one.

But instead of slicing their meat 1.7 millimeters thick, the standard for cheesesteaks in Philadelphia, they opted for a thicker, 3-millimeter cut.

They also considered using a gourmet cheese, or making their own version of Cheez Whiz, — as is done at other local spots like JackBeagle’s — but both agreed nothing was as good as the original.

“It’s creamy and then there’s kind of a saltiness that the Whiz brings to the table,” Hart said. “It also gets down into every nook and cranny. We put it on the bottom and the top so every bite has Whiz, onions and meat.”

“Everything should be the same in every single bite from start to finish,” Balch added. “Not like a taco where you’ve gotta hit it twice from both sides to get everything.”

If Whiz isn’t your thing, however, Hart assured me that they do offer provolone in its place.

During pop-ups, Cheat’s sourced its bread from Philadelphia-based Amoroso’s Baking Company, but has since switched to New Jersey-based Liscio’s Bakery.

(Hart observed that in Philly, half the cheesesteak shops use Liscio’s and the other half use Amoroso’s.)

Customers who visit the Pecan Avenue location will notice Cheat’s has kept its menu small — inspired by the business model of decades-old chains like Raleigh-based Char-Grill — with pop-up classics like the Whiz Wit, chicken cheesesteaks and a vegan version that uses Beyond meat.

However, there are also several new items, including the Italian hoagie; an all-day breakfast sandwich with taylor pork roll, egg and cheese; fries (you can top with cheesesteak); and a kids meal.

Customers can also get vanilla soft-serve or vegan gluten-free Dole pineapple whip — or swirl them together with the option to add chocolate Magic Shell or sprinkles.

PHOTO BY STEVEN KEY

Cheat’s new 500-square-foot building was designed with a fast, casual, walk-up style of service in mind and no inside dining. Customers can watch the team prepare sandwiches and cheesesteaks through the front viewing windows, just like at the pop-ups.

Hart said they considered a larger space, but a smaller footprint made the most sense for Cheat’s business model, which relies heavily on efficiency, motion and flow to churn out cheesesteaks at high volume.

“We talked a lot early on about square footage and how many steps you need to take, efficiency, and Greg did some research on In-N-Out Burger, and their kitchens are 300 to 250 square feet,” Hart said.

“That resonated with me because at The Crunkleton we have these Tobin Ellis cocktail stations where you step into them and it’s literally like a cockpit of spirits so it’s zero steps. Your output is incredible.”

Prior to securing the spot on Pecan Avenue, Balch said the team was “eyeballing Dairy Queen really hard.” The iconic shop on Central Avenue closed in the fall of 2019 after being a neighborhood fixture since the 1950s. It has since been purchased by restaurateurs Joe and Katy Kindred, who are transforming it into their newest concept, milkbread.

Balch said the decision to offer soft-serve ice cream is an ode to the hole in the market left by Dairy Queen’s departure. He hopes Cheat’s can be a similar, family-friendly draw for neighbors.

“It was a huge part of the neighborhood,” Balch said. “We kind of have the opportunity to be like, ‘Hey, we can be the new Dairy Queen.’ Come get a cheesesteak and a cone and hopefully one day, those kids will bring their kids.”

“We can fill that niche more than try to replace the magic that Dairy Queen was to the neighborhood,” Hart added.

Judging by the demand they’ve seen while working in the space, the neighborhood is more than ready to welcome Cheat’s with open arms ... and mouths.

“Everybody is saying that day one, they’re going to be here. Everybody. I don’t know how we don’t sell out,” Balch said.

“Well, we have a pretty big walk-in. We tried to plan for war,” Hart responded. “But really, we’re so grateful that anybody cares. We keep pinching ourselves … It’s like we started with a lemonade stand and, you know, started from the bottom now we here.”

They’re here, and now they have better news for anyone approaching their window: We’re open.

KSIMMONS@QCNERVE.COM

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CHEAT’S IS ON PECAN AVENUE BETWEEN PLAZA MIDWOOD AND ELIZABETH.

A new Queen

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LIFESTYLE PUZZLES

LIFESTYLE PUZZLES

TRIVIA TEST

BY FIFI RODRIGUEZ

1. GEOGRAPHY: Which country has the most islands?

SUDOKU

BY LINDA THISTLE 2. AD SLOGANS: Which product is advertised with the slogan “The snack that smiles back”?

3. MOVIES: Which animated movie features more than 10,000 balloons?

4. TELEVISION: Who did Jim Halpert marry in the long-running sitcom “The Office”?

5. HISTORY: Which country sold Alaska to the United States (1867) for $7.2 million?

6. MUSIC: Which rock group had an album titled “Dark Side of the Moon”?

7. LITERATURE: Which novel introduces a character named Lisbeth Salander?

8. SCIENCE: What is the name for magma after it has erupted?

9. U.S. STATES: Which state was PLACE A NUMBER IN THE EMPTY BOXES IN SUCH A WAY THAT EACH ROW the first to join the union after the ACROSS, EACH COLUMN DOWN AND EACH SMALL 9-BOX SQUARE CONTAINS original 13 colonies?

ALL OF THE NUMBERS ONE TO NINE. 10. ANATOMY: What is also known as ©2022 King Feautres Syndicate, Inc. All rights reserved. the voice box in human anatomy?

CROSSWORD

WWW.CANVASTATTOOS.COM

2019 2020 2021

TB LISTINGS

©2022 King Feautres Syndicate, Inc. All rights reserved.

Pg. 19 JULY 13 - JULY 26, 2022 - QCNERVE.COM

(980) 299-2588 3012 N. DAVIDSON STREET VOTED BEST TATTOO SHOP 2918 N. DAVIDSON STREET CHARLOTTE, NC 28205

LIFESTYLE COLUMN

THE SEEKER

HITTING THE FLATS The ups and downs of a well-meaning hike

Pg. 20 JULY 13 - JULY 26, 2022 - QCNERVE.COM

BY KATIE GRANT

During quarantine, I became borderline obsessed with physical activity and “getting my steps in” (who can relate?). I found myself checking my steps counter regularly, using exercise as a tool to keep my anxiety in check. In turn, hiking became part and parcel of my newfound outdoor workout enthusiasm.

The Daffodil Flats trail has been on my radar for some time. The most popular time to visit this hiker’s destination near Nebo is in March when the daffodils bloom.

Local lore claims the Flats originated from an old homestead that is no longer visible. Still, the flowers bloom year after year to continue telling their tale. We packed up our snacks, water, and the dogs and hit the road for prepared for the 1.5-hour ride to Nebo, where the trailhead can be found. Bringing the dogs was our first mistake.

I read the trail was considered challenging, which sounds like a good workout opportunity. We tried in March, but the weather was unseasonably warm. We walked far enough beyond the trailhead to know it was too hot to endeavor a five-mile hike with the pups. There was zero air movement at the top of the mountain that day, so we tucked tail, stopped for lunch in Morganton, and headed home to Charlotte.

Fast forward several weeks to our next free weekend, we retraced our steps and traversed the grueling NC 105 (a washed-out gravel road marred by potholes and erosion). Then, for what felt like hours — but was more like 45 minutes — we hiked straight down the face of the mountain (or it felt that way, anyway).

An infinite slope shadowed by the forest canopy, there was no way to see how much further the trail rambled. The troubled thought of hiking back up it bubbled in my mind, but I brushed it away. “We are young and able-bodied,” I rationalized internally, “Surely it won’t be an issue.” Plus, experiencing the whimsical “ghost garden” will make it worthwhile.

This assumption was my second mistake.

We carried on walking ... and walking ... and walking for at least another hour. No daffodils. No flats.

My husband finally urged that we turn around.

Resentfully, we backtracked without finding or experiencing the majesty of the trail’s destination: an alleged sea of yellow daffodil petals. Instead, we faced the brutal force of the uphill climb back to the trailhead.

Our second hike to Daffodil Flats failed as miserably as the first attempt — maybe more so.

However, I am content that this hike just isn’t in my cards. I would rate this out-and-back trail extremely difficult and would not recommend it to anyone without bionic knees.

But do you know what I would recommend?

Planning a trip to Fonta Flora’s Whippoorwill Farm, also located in Nebo. Set beautifully against the backdrop of the Linville Gorge, their farmhouse brewery sits on nine acres of pasture surrounded by Lake James State Park, Nebo’s primary attraction. Once a dairy farm known as Whippoorwill, the craft brewery from Morganton purchased the portion of the farm that faces NC 126.

Included in the property are remnants of the old stackedstone barns and structures.

Fonta Flora’s other operations include its tasting room in Morganton and the tasting room in Charlotte’s own Optimist Hall.

Whippoorwill Farm was a post-hike haven. Sweat sodden from walking straight uphill for 45 minutes to no avail, we pulled in and parked by the farm’s original stone ruins. We made a beeline towards the indoor bar, which was welcoming and airy with the windows rolled up.

Gazing out back of the brewery, a field of green grass rolled on and on, dotted with picnic tables, umbrellas, beer lovers, and their dogs. They have plenty of outdoor seating and allow families to bring their chairs, hammocks and blankets. We claimed an empty wooden table shaded by an umbrella, sipped our Lake James Lime and Topsy Boozy (the brand’s own seltzer), and vowed to never again try to hike that deplorable stretch of mountain (and to do a little more research on our hiking destinations).

While our Daffodil Flats trip may have fallen, well, flat, the day wasn’t a total loss thanks to some unexpected but much-appreciated alcoholic beverages.

With some beer in our bellies, we made our way to the pizza food truck on site that day and ate our weight in cheesy, doughy goodness. For some reason, nothing tastes better after a back-breaking outdoor adventure.

Satiated and exhausted, we made our way home, adding Fonta Flora’s Whippoorwill Farm to our “Gems of North Carolina” list.

INFO@QCNERVE.COM

JULY 2022 WED, JUL 13

SARA JEAN KELLEY AND SONIA LEIGH THUR, JUL 14

CAROLINA WAVES

SHOWCASE AND OPEN MIC FRI, JUL 15

LEONE AND THE ASCENSION W/ EDGEWOOD HEAVY S A T, J U L 1 6

KAITLIN BUTTS BAND W/ MEG MCREE

MEMPHIS LIGHTNING MON, JUL 18

FIND YOUR MUSE OPEN MIC FEAT. THE BACKFIRES eveningmuse.com

WED, JUL 20

AUSTIN GIORGIO

W/ GUEST JARON STROM THUR, JUL 21

THE LUBBEN BROTHERS FRI, JUL 22

FLIGHT BY NOTHING AND TEDESCO KNOWS BEST TRICIA ANN BAND AND MALLOW HILL S A T, J U L 2 3

MARGOLNICK

W/ DEATHCRUISER

ELECTRIC KIF W/ MISNOMER

3 3 2 7 n d av i d s o n s t, c h a r l o t t e n c

LIFESTYLE

JULY 13 - 19

HOROSCOPE BORN THIS WEEK: You have a strong sense of loyalty that shows itself best in your relationships with family and friends.

JULY 20 - 26

2022 KING FEATURES SYND., INC.

BORN THIS WEEK: You can be happy being

alone at home. But you also love exploring the world outside and meeting new people.

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) You dislike waiting LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Some hazy for promises to be fulfilled and for commitments to issues still need to be cleared up before you can be kept, but resist your headstrong tendency to push move on with your new plans. A friend from the things along. Your patience will be rewarded. past reaches out to re-establish old ties.

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) You’re not Sheepish LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Good for when it comes to asserting your opinions on what you: You’re determined to stick with your goals and you think is right or wrong. Be assured that you’re ignore those naysayers who might try to discourage being heard, and something positive will follow. you. You’re on the right track. The challenge now is to stay on it.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Expect continuing SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) opposition to your plans from die-hard detractors. Continued positive fall-out follows that risky However, your determination to see things through workplace decision you made some time ago. Your will carry the day. A Pisces has romantic ideas. payoff will soon prove to be more substantial than you expected.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Your sense of justice makes it difficult not to speak up about a recurring SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) You’ll matter involving a co-worker. But, once again, you soon get news that is supposed to help you with a troublesome situation. Use your sharp Scorpion need facts to back you up before you can act. instincts to determine if the information is reliable.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) You might be too

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Romance is still

close to a troublesome workplace situation to deal SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) with it successfully. Step away in order to get a better A personal relationship continues to be affected by a recent unexpected turn of events. Things need to perspective. A solution soon becomes obvious. work themselves out without finger-pointing.

CANCER (June 21 to July 22) You might suspect

that someone you trust has misled you on an CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) It’s a important matter, but a more balanced view of wonderful week for all you capricious Goats to kick things reveals a misunderstanding to be the culprit. up your heels with friends or family members in some well-earned fun and frivolity.

LEO (July 23 to August 22) The Big Cat’s animal

magnetism has rarely been stronger. You can either AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) Caution just bask in all that admiration or use it to your is advised before making a financial commitment advantage, especially in the workplace. to someone you don’t really know. There are better ways to build friendships than with risky fiscal VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) Someone dealings.

who previously balked at cooperating with you on a project suddenly has a change of heart. Accept both PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Travel plans help and advice with grace. continue to be favored. A change of scenery brings new opportunities, both personally and professionally. Be open to the possibilities.

dominant, and if Cupid misfired before, don’t worry. SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) He’ll take better aim at someone new this time If you learn someone has betrayed your trust, don’t around. Expect favorable news about a financial just accept it and walk away. You need to know why that person decided to do what he or she did. matter.

CANCER (June 21 to July 22) The zodiac’s Moon CAPRICORN

(December 22 to January 19) A Children can expect things to work out pretty much painful family relationship problem could finally as planned. One negative note involves a minor begin to heal. Be prepared to show more flexibility relationship problem that suddenly turns serious. than you might like. It could be worth it.

LEO (July 23 to August 22) You’re suddenly being AQUARIUS

(January 20 to February 18) It’s a asked to make choices between two practically good idea to enhance your career skills so you’ll equal offers. Which one to choose? Easy. The one be prepared to accept a more responsible position most likely to gladden your Lion’s heart. when it’s offered. A friend returns a favor just when you need it.

VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) Once again, you’re confronted by a workplace problem you PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Show that thought you’d already resolved. This time, you might strong, steely backbone that you usually hide and need to go higher up to find a just resolution. demand to be included in any family decisionmaking that could affect the well-being of a loved one.

PUZZLE ANSWERS Pg. 21 JULY 13 - JULY 26, 2022 - QCNERVE.COM

1. Sweden 2. Goldfish crackers 3. “Up” 4. Pam Beesly 5. Russia 6. Pink Floyd

Trivia Answers

7. “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” 8. Lava 9. Vermont 10. Larynx

LIFESTYLE COLUMN

SAVAGE LOVE

DICK DOWN

LIMITS ABOUT BODIES EXPRESSED LOVINGLY & SENSITIVELY

At the end of the road

BY DAN SAVAGE

Pg. 22 JULY 13 - JULY 26, 2022 - QCNERVE.COM

I’m a cis woman in her 30s who lives on the East Coast. I’ve been in an LTR with the same cis man for 12 years. No issues there at all! But we are considering opening up our relationship and I have a question about my sexuality. Basically, I’m attracted to people with penises. PIV is the only sex that really arouses me — the only kind of sex I like to have or fantasize about — although I do enjoy everything that leads up to it. I’m that rare woman who comes easily during PIV and honestly prefer it over all things. So, although I am attracted to people regardless of what they look like, if I were to hook up with someone who didn’t have a penis, I would be disappointed. I hooked up with two women during group sex and I liked their

but for me, it’s the opposite. Dick or bust.

I’ve also never been on a dating app, so I am not sure if classifying myself as straight would still leave me visible to non-binary folx looking for women. Maybe that’s true, and finding a nuanced label doesn’t really matter.

breasts and kissing them, but I quickly realized I do not find vaginas sexy at all.

So, what am I since not all people with penises are men? I ask because I don’t want to use a label on hook-up apps that’s transphobic in any way.

I’m mostly attracted to people with penises, but I want non-binary people with dicks to slide into my DMs too. So, I am attracted to all men and nonbinary people with penises (no matter how they present themselves). Is this messed up? I don’t know. I have searched for a term that describes this fixation on specific genitalia, but I have yet to find any. So, am I just straight? It seems some people think attraction and sexuality are separate from genitalia and anything else is transphobic,

You could make this complicated. You could describe yourself as an AFAB (assigned female at birth), cis-gender (not trans), femme-presenting (just what it sounds like) allosexual (opposite of asexual) phallophile (dick lover) in an ENM (ethically non-monogamous) LTR (long-term relationship) seeking masc-presenting and/or non-binary allosexual AMAB (assigned male at birth) phallus-haversand-wanna-users for PIV. (And by the way, “phallophile” was the term you were searching for.)

Or you could keep it simple, LABELS, and just say you’re straight. Which is what you are. You’re a heterosexual woman — you’re a cis woman who’s attracted to members of the opposite sex — and while you require dick and dicking, you’re open to sex partners who don’t identify as men so long as they, 1. have dicks and, 2. want to use them. And who knows? In addition to getting dicked down by cis men and non-binary AMAB peeps, you might enjoy getting pegged down

by cis women or AFAB non-binary peeps who, 1. have a strap-on, 2. know how to use it and, 3. won’t ask you eat or touch their vaginas/front holes. All of the above could be included in your bio on whatever hook-up app you’re using.

Oh, gee. Look at that. The less complicated option took longer to explain than the more complicated option.

What a world.

Anyway, LABELS, there’s nothing transphobic or gynophobic about clearly and respectfully stating who and what you’re looking for. Use a positive framing (what you want), not a negative one (what you don’t). Indeed, letting people who don’t have penises know not to waste their time on you — cis women, non-binary AFAB peeps, trans men who didn’t opt for bottom surgery, trans women who did — is a courtesy, not an insult. You might hear from some people who aren’t what you’re looking for, LABELS, but you aren’t obligated to respond.

The full version of Savage Love is now exclusively available on Dan’s website Savage.Love! To continue reading this week’s column, go to savage.love/savagelove; send questions to @savagelove.net; listen to Dan on the Savage Lovecast; follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage.

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